That said, enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer: Someone once said "If my life was written in a book, nobody with an ounce of sanity would want to read it." Know what? That was me! So, I own the spiffy quote. Which is about all I own. I certainly don't own DBZ.
Not So Polite Conversation
"So, Prince Trunks," Marron began, delicately wiping her mouth with the finely embroidered napkin that sat next to her plate during the course of the meal. Bardock noted with wry amusement that she was one of the few people to have even touched their napkins. But that was only to be expected, of course. Saiyans weren't exactly noted for their table manners, mostly due to the fact that the race in general ate too quickly to accommodate such tedious foolishness. They weren't messy eaters, or at least they weren't for occasions such as this, but neither did they waste time wiping lips that would only stay clean for a minute or two. "How is your search for a bride coming?"
Trunks's lips curled upwards slightly in a secretive smile. "I believe I have found a... suitable candidate," he said, taking a small sip from his goblet. He swirled the deep maroon liquid in his glass for a moment before setting it down, keeping his blue eyes focused on Marron's face.
A derisive snort from Vegeta greeted this statement as the Saiyan king looked up from his food. "Oh really?" he sneered sarcastically. "Well, that's certainly news to me! Tell me, Trunks, since when did the word 'suitable' become an appropriate way to refer to that wench Ruuka?"
Trunks scowled faintly. "I wasn't referring to Ruuka, father," he replied coldly. Bardock's eyebrows shot up in surprise and he yanked his attention away from the human diplomats, turning to give the prince a measuring look. I wasn't aware that the prince had changed bed mates, he frowned, wondering if he was slipping or if Trunks had gone out of his way to prevent Bardock from finding out. The Saiyan warrior generally made it his business to know who had captured the demi-Saiyan's interest, as that person might end up being a possible threat later on, or potentially the future queen. Or both. Either way, it was always good for Bardock to be informed. Maybe this 'suitable candidate' is new....
Apparently this news caught Vegeta off guard as well, because the Saiyan King set down his utensils - a sure sign of shock among Saiyans, who never put their utensils down unless they're finished eating. "You've replaced that filthy cow?" he asked, not even bothering to dignify the woman with her name. At his son's affirming nod, he snorted approvingly. "It's about time. So who is this new woman you're referring to? Of course, practically anyone would be better than that wh-" He cut the word off with a slight frown, glancing at Marron and Goten as he did so. Right. Polite company and all that crap. "-woman," he amended after a barely noticeable pause. "Still, I would like to know who you've chosen this time."
A secretive smile slipped across the purple haired prince's features. "I don't think you've met her, father. I'll have to bring her to meet you sometime." Of course, he failed to mention the small fact that Pan might not agree with his sentiments regarding suitability. Indeed, the idea that she might not want to be his bride never crossed his mind.
"You realize, Trunks, that I must also approve your final choice," Vegeta stated with a dangerous edge to his voice, seeing the boy's attempt to deflect questions for what it was. Eyes glinting seriously, he added, "And remember that your time is running out. The tournament is only a week away."
Trunks tensed and shot his father a venomous glare. "I will choose my own mate, father!" At the time that his father had issued the ultimatum, the young prince hadn't thought anything of it. It hadn't appeared that he'd find anyone he actually wanted to mate, and, like his father said, almost anyone would make a better future-queen than Ruuka, but that was before he met Pan!
"Only if you can do so before the time is up," the king calmly replied, picking up his fork and knife once again to continue his interrupted meal and thus signaling the end of the discussion. Inwardly, he was somewhat surprised by his son's reaction. When Vegeta had first announced the tournament and its purpose, Trunks hadn't made any kind of protest. I wonder... he mused silently, allowing the thought to trail off uncompleted with a small shake of his head.
After watching the moody prince a moment longer, Bardock returned to scrutinizing the diplomats, particularly Son Goten. The spiky haired youth was seemingly oblivious to the entire conversation, happily focused on the food in front of him as he was. Bardock's earlier suspicions immediately rekindled upon seeing the way Goten shoveled food into his mouth at a rate that rivaled the speed of even some of the table's Saiyan occupants! No human could eat that much food, Bardock thought with conviction, narrowing his eyes slightly. He glanced briefly at Marron's plate for confirmation and nodded to himself when he saw the pathetic portions of food she had served herself in comparison to the heaping mounds her partner was consuming. The boy is a Saiyan! All I need is a blood sample to prove it, I'm sure of it! Pursing his lips in thought, the Saiyan warrior silently vowed to drag Goten to one of the science labs as soon as the feast was over and run the scans himself.
Up to this point Marron had kept silent, sensing that her voice in this argument would be unwelcome. However, now that the confrontation seemed to be over she decided to risk a question. "Your pardon, sirs, but what tournament were you referring to?"
"Tournament?" Goten's ears almost visibly perked up at the word, finally showing interest in something other than his food. Yet another Saiyan trait, Bardock noted grimly.
A tap on his shoulder distracted the head of the science wing and strategical commands from his thoughts. "Bardock, where's your brother?" a frowning Gallot asked softly so as not to draw the attention of any of the other diners. The first class commander jerked his head in the direction of the suspiciously empty seat where Turles ought to have been sitting.
"I don't know, Gallot," Bardock replied, also keeping his voice down. Scowling at the empty seat, he added, "I know he knew about the banquet and that he was supposed to be here. When I spoke with him an hour ago he mentioned getting cleaned up." When a quick scan of the room failed to produce his brother, Bardock let loose a string of expletives that made Gallot squirm uncomfortably.
"....tournament will be all female." Princess Bra's voice drifted down the table from where she was speaking with the two foreign diplomats. "Officially it's to 'assess the general improvement of female fighting ability'."
"But unofficially," Queen Bulma cut in, giving her husband a significant look - which he properly ignored, "it's a contest to find the strongest woman on the planet. The winner will be the future queen of Vegeta-sei."
"Coincidentally, all contestants must be unmated and of marrying age," Bra said lightly. "Some nonsense about preventing 'possibly pregnant women' from fighting. Anyway, the theory is that the stronger the parents, the stronger the children will be, so the winner of such a tournament would be the ideal mate for my brother."
The blonde haired woman frowned. "Doesn't Prince Trunks have a choice about this?"
"Oh, he's had his chance," Vegeta-ou snorted. "I told him last year that it was time for him to mate and that he had a year to find a suitable woman before I found someone for him myself. The year ends in one week."
Trunks muttered darkly in response to this, but whatever he said was lost in the gentle babble of conversation from the rest of the table.
"....took out a third of the first class soldiers...."
"....heard it was an onna...."
"....couldn't be. No female's that strong! Hey, could you pass the wine? No, not that bottle, give me the red one. That other stuff tastes like vinegar...."
"I'm going to skin him alive," Bardock growled, violently spearing a vegetable with his fork.
"Skin who, ototo?" Sliding into his seat a couple chairs down from his brother, Turles raised his voice to address the head of the table. "I apologize for being late, your majesty. I was... detained." With a smug, satisfied smirk, the elder twin began heaping food onto his plate, pausing only to toss a wink at his infuriated brother.
Vegeta chortled knowingly. "Yes, I imagine you were. So, who was it this time?"
"You remember that cute new officer in the science department?" replied Turles, waggling his eyebrows to emphasize the word 'cute'. He glanced briefly at Bardock to gauge the younger Saiyan's reaction to finding out that this latest conquest had occurred amongst Bardock's own ranks.
Shooting his brother a nasty look, Bardock barely managed to refrain from bashing the idiot's head in then and there. One of these days, he thought furiously. One of these days he's going to go too far. I don't see why Vegeta-ou lets him get away with so much! The nerve of him, showing up late for a royal affair because he was bouncing around in some onna's bed and then bragging about it in front of everyone! One of these days, the king is going to stop being amused by his antics, and then Turles is going to have his tail served on a platter - or his head!
"It isn't so much that I find your brother's stunts amusing, Bardock," Vegeta murmured, startling Bardock out of his thoughts. The older warrior barely had time to wonder if the king had someone learned to read his thoughts before Vegeta continued, eyes twinkling mischievously. "It's the way you react."
Bardock opened his mouth... then closed it - several times - as words to express his indignation failed him. They're doing this just to annoy me! Before he could sputter an indignant accusation, Vegeta started speaking again.
"By the way, Turles," he said in a too-casual tone of voice, "there are much better reasons for being late to banquets...." Grinning slyly, Vegeta-ou met Turles's eyes directly. "Such as sparring with your king. But since it's too late to do it before eating, we'll just have to arrange a little match after we're done. Don't you agree?"
It was a hard fight for Bardock to keep himself from snickering at the look on his brother's face. That'll teach Turles not to draw attention to himself like that! I bet Vegeta was just itching for an excuse to beat someone up, and Turles being as strong as he is makes him a perfect choice! Lips twitching with amusement, he silently added, If he hadn't walked in late and made such a scene, there's a pretty good chance it would have been me the king picked for a sparring partner. I'll have to remember to thank Turles for that later. Of course, his brother probably wouldn't appreciate such thanks, but, then, that was the point, wasn't it?
Paling as the blood drained from his face, Turles gulped and nodded miserably. Not that he had much choice in the matter, of course - not when it was the king 'asking' for a spar! "Yes, sire."
"Good! We'll meet in the training room off of the east wing immediately after lunch." Vegeta smirked broadly at his soon-to-be-victim, then refocused his attention on the diplomats. "I apologize for the interruption," he said, not sounding very sorry at all. "Now, where were we?"
Wearing twin expressions of bemusement, Goten and Marron glanced at each other, uncertain how they should respond to all of this. Goten opened his mouth to say something, but whatever it was was abruptly cut off when the doors to the banquet hall were thrown open with a loud bang! Every head turned in the direction of the disturbance, the noise level in the room falling dramatically as conversations trailed off. Bardock frowned, wondering who else had been foolish enough to arrive late. Whoever it is, I doubt they'll get off as easy as Turles. King Vegeta won't be nearly so amused by a second interruption.
To his surprise, the person who strode into the banquet hall was none other than his own son, Radditz. Upon seeing the people gathered for lunch, the wild maned warrior's steps faltered, surprise and... was that fear?... flickering in his eyes. Behind him was a woman clad in form fitting spandex, her silky black hair oddly affected by the gravity to fall in smooth, flat curtains, not a hint of typical Saiyan spikes anywhere. But she was a Saiyan, as evidenced by the fuzzy brown tail lashing the air at her side. Bardock raised an eyebrow in surprise, recognizing her as the onna he'd run into the night before. Who was she, and what was she doing here with his son? For that matter, why the hell is Radditz here?
A sharp intake of breath alerted Bardock to the fact that Turles had also noticed the strange female. Glancing at his brother, he was startled to see the light of recognition in his onyx eyes, eyes that were staring with burning intensity at the two newcomers. "It's her!" Turles hissed, standing up so suddenly that he knocked his chair over. "Son Pan!" And with those four words, chaos erupted throughout the room.
Bardock shot to his feet and spun back around, instinctively raising his guard as he whipped his scouter out of his pocket and attached it to his face. Pressing the button on the side, he trained the scouter's sensors on the surprised female at his son's side. Numbers immediately appeared in the green lens, then started shooting up at an astonishing speed.
"Pan?!" yelped Goten, both he and Diplomat Marron jumping up as well. Shock, bewilderment, and alarm were equally evident on both their faces. "What's she doing here?!"
"Pan," breathed Trunks, looking both surprised and pleased at the same time. Eyes shining with a strange light, the Saiya-jin no Ouji stood up and immediately began walking towards Radditz and Pan.
"Radditz! What is the meaning of this?!" roared Vegeta, obviously confused by the sudden pandemonium caused by one soldier and one female Saiyan. Of course, if he didn't know that this 'Son Pan' was the same woman he'd ordered Bardock to track down and bring before him, as Bardock had not had time to report his findings to the king before the banquet began. He too would have gotten out of his seat, if it hadn't been for his mate's sudden restraining grip on his arm. Shooting Bulma a startled and angry glare, Vegeta roughly pulled his arm away and rose to his feet.
"Vegeta, wait!" The queen tried to grab Vegeta's arm again, but he was already out of her reach.
"Not now, woman," he growled without looking back, striding swiftly towards the pair standing frozen in front of the open door. Even from across the room, Bardock could see his son's eyes widen at the king's approach, the blood draining from his face. "Radditz, what the hell is going on?! Who is this onna?"
Radditz's mouth worked soundlessly for a few moments, but it seemed that words refused to come. The only sound in the room was the confused babble of the people who had no idea what was going on and the rapid beeping of Bardock's scouter as it continued to try to get a reading on Pan's energy. What the hell?! It's still going up?! Bardock's eyes widened with alarm when he realized how high the numbers were already. Thirty thousand?!! Impossible! And yet, the numbers were still rising.
"V-Vegeta?" Pan squeaked. Her breathing was becoming short and erratic, the panicked expression on her face growing more and more pronounced, and she took a few nervous steps away from the approaching Saiyans. "Trunks?" Then her eyes landed on Goten and Marron, who had both gotten out of their seats as well, and she began to tremble. Lips moved as though forming names, but whatever it was she said, she said it too quietly for Bardock to hear. Bardock's eyes narrowed. She recognizes them! And they recognize her! Son Pan. Son Goten. I'd bet my tail that those two are related!
Seemingly sensing that his charge was about to bolt, Radditz's hand snaked out and latched onto the raven haired female's wrist, startling her out of her shock. With a growl like a cornered animal, Pan struggled to free herself from her captor's grip, to no avail. Bardock grinned briefly at his son with pride. His son was, after all, one of the strongest Saiyans on the planet; Son Pan would find that breaking free would be no easy-
Cra-boom!
Bardock's head jerked back reflexively as the scouter exploded in his face. Cursing profusely, he clapped a hand to his ear and rubbed it for a moment before reality caught up to him. Then he really swore. She hit Blow Up Level! his mind screamed, referring to the level of strength it usually took to make a scouter blow up. Nowadays it took a ki of about seventy thousand or more to accomplish that - a strength unheard of in any but the strongest of Saiyans in their untransformed state. For an untransformed Saiyan female to be that strong....
"Let. Me. Go!!" Pan snarled at Radditz, a visible red aura dancing around her figure. Abruptly changing tactics, the diminutive woman stopped trying to pull her wrist out of Radditz' hand. Before he even had a chance to register what was happening, Pan had curled her free hand into a fist and punched him hard right between the eyes with such force that he was sent hurtling across the room. Radditz slammed into the wall then slid to the floor in an unconscious heap, leaving behind a spider web of cracks where his head had impacted with the stone wall.
A moment of stunned silence ensued as everyone in the room, Pan included, gaped at the fallen warrior. Almost as though she couldn't believe what she'd just done, the young woman's eyes flicked from Radditz to her fist and then back again. Turning his attention back to Pan, Bardock thought he saw a slightly guilty expression in her eyes, but it was gone before he could be sure. Pan took an uncertain step backwards, then abruptly spun around and darted out of the room.
"Trunks, go after her!" Vegeta bellowed at his son - the closest person to Pan - who needed no second urging as he was already sprinting after the girl. "Turles, Gallot, go with him! When you find her, bring her to me at once!"
"Yes, sire!" Turles and the first class commander immediately ran out of the room on the heels of the Saiyan Prince.
"Vegeta." Bardock hurriedly approached the king, holding out the broken pieces of his scouter, his expression grim. "The woman's energy-"
"I know, Bardock. I can sense ki, remember?" Bardock nodded. He'd known, but it was still his duty to inform the king about the overloaded scouter. "Get your son and put him in a regen tank. I want him healed as quickly as possible." Glancing at Radditz's still form, Vegeta's features hardened. "Find out what he knows about all this, then bring him to me."
"Yes, sire," Bardock replied somberly, shaking his head as he walked over to the unconscious man. He had a feeling that his son was going to be in a lot of trouble. Bending down and grunting as he lifted Radditz into his arms, he added, "While I'm at it, I should take the diplomat, Son Goten, down to the med labs and get his blood tested." Bardock straightened up and opened his mouth to call out to the suspected Saiyan to follow him - only to stop short before the first word left his lips.
Son Goten was gone.
~~**~~
Oy, that was a hard chapter to write. Trying to write scenes with multiple conversations going on at once, then the pure chaos upon Pan's entry, and I had to make some guesses about average Saiyan strength and technological improvements, but I think it all turned out fairly well. Having beta readers definitely helps.
No promises on when the next chapter will be up. School starts again in a couple weeks, so I'll have to devote a lot of time to classes and homework. *grimace*
I hope this chapter lived up to everyone's expectations! Thanks for reading. ^_^